Last month, we took a detailed look at the jumping and landing stances for the Olympic lifts. This month, we'll discuss proper hand placement on the bar for the snatch and the clean. First off, it must be understood that grip in both the snatch and clean is personal and based on several factors, including flexibility, strength, body size and shape, and what is generally comfortable to the athlete. While there may be a period of experimentation when an athlete tries out various grip widths for each lift, the athlete should settle on one consistent grip width for each lift and approach the bar in an identical manner every single time.

Grip width

There are three main methods for determining the proper grip width for the snatch. All three usually end up giving the same result, and since the visual approach is the quickest and easiest, it is the one I most use.

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